Juventus beat Napoli at the San Paolo for the first time in 14 years to retain top spot in Serie A.
The Bianconeri got off to a slow start but it was Paul Pogba who opened the scoring with a sublime volley. Napoli pulled one back through Britos before Juve took the lead again as Martin Caceres met Andrea Pirlo’s FK to slot past Cabral.
Napoli piled on the pressure but Juve finished the game late on with a swift counter when Arturo Vidal latched onto Alvaro Morata’s pass to fire past the Napoli keeper.
Do you agree with our ratings ? have your say below
Gianluigi Buffon
Didn’t have many saves to make but was quick to come off his line to claim any Napoli crosses into the box. Was unable to stop Napoli’s equaliser but solid thereafter. Superman
6.5 / 10
Martin Caceres
Galloped and ran down the right flank for much of the first half. Provided Juventus with some much needed width and supplied some decent crosses before scoring the second Juve goal. Pedalo
7.0 / 10
Leonardo Bonucci
Back to his old self and more in keeping with his performances from earlier this season. Robust in his tackles, kept Higuain on a tight leash for much of the game.
6.0 / 10
Giorgio Chiellini
Great positioning as always, beaten for pace only a few times on the counter and even then, he managed to draw a foul. Fought on despite a nasty looking head injury. A true warriors performance.
6.5 / 10
Patrice Evra
Performed well against Callejon on the night. Not his usual self in the attacking sense and didn’t link up with Pogba as often as he normally does. A more defensive performance and a good one at that.
6.5 / 10
Claudio Marchisio
Didn’t see as much of the ball as he normally does. Was combative and hard-working when he did have a part to play.
6.0 / 10
Andrea Pirlo
Not his best performance at all, lots of misplaced passes early on but he got better as the game went on. Provided the assist for Juve’s second.
6.0 / 10
Paul Pogba
A quiet start to the game, gave up possession a few times before blasting home a beautiful volley to open the scoring. Built on that as the game progressed with lots of hard work in the midfield before being subbed off.
7.0 / 10
Arturo Vidal
A battling performance, hunted down every ball. tackled, chased and harried Napoli all night before scoring Juve’s third to seal the game.
7.0 / 10
Carlos Tevez
Played his part in the opening goal but had a pretty quiet night by his standards. Made the right runs but the Napoli defence kept him pretty quiet.
6.0 / 10
Fernando Llorente
Frustrating yet again. Does what is asked of him and holds up the play well but needs to be getting into more goalscoring positions.
5.5 / 10
Substitutes
Alvaro Morata
Gave Napoli plenty to think about after coming on for Llorente and provided the assist for Vidal when he started the Juve counterattack.
6.5 / 10
Stephan Lichtsteiner
Replaced Pogba and sat in on the right to protect Juve’s lead.
I believe allegri should give Morata more time and chances rather than just a subs for llorente.
7 for caceres?napolis goal was his fault – missed the ball, his crossing was awfull, usually hit the napoli player and made some errors that could cost us points, i would give him 5 for his performance and 1 extra point for the goal so 6
He also got us out of dangerous situations. 1 time risking an injury for himself.
He delivered at least 2/3 dangerous crosses, scored a goal that built the momentum for us to win. 6.5 or 7 is fair IMHO but i like the fact that you actually replied and took the time to explain why you would score him less – thank you for that
I understand the bad ratings of LLorente, but is it his fold that Juve doesn’t use him at his best. He needs to get crosses from wingers 🙁 Great player, though
I think Pirlo was the engine for our first half dominance and somewhat declined in the 2nd half. He had some 60-70 touches in the first half and only about 20-30 in the second. We have seen this pattern for a couple of games now. Maybe Allegri needs to take out Pirlo when he is fatigued, whether Pirlo likes it or not. I say this as a Pirlo fan.